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 Planning & Scheduling


Real-Time Neuromorphic Navigation: Guiding Physical Robots with Event-Based Sensing and Task-Specific Reconfigurable Autonomy Stack

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Neuromorphic vision, inspired by biological neural systems, has recently gained significant attention for its potential in enhancing robotic autonomy. This paper presents a systematic exploration of a proposed Neuromorphic Navigation framework that uses event-based neuromorphic vision to enable efficient, real-time navigation in robotic systems. We discuss the core concepts of neuromorphic vision and navigation, highlighting their impact on improving robotic perception and decision-making. The proposed reconfigurable Neuromorphic Navigation framework adapts to the specific needs of both ground robots (Turtlebot) and aerial robots (Bebop2 quadrotor), addressing the task-specific design requirements (algorithms) for optimal performance across the autonomous navigation stack -- Perception, Planning, and Control. We demonstrate the versatility and the effectiveness of the framework through two case studies: a Turtlebot performing local replanning for real-time navigation and a Bebop2 quadrotor navigating through moving gates. Our work provides a scalable approach to task-specific, real-time robot autonomy leveraging neuromorphic systems, paving the way for energy-efficient autonomous navigation.


Traffic Regulation-aware Path Planning with Regulation Databases and Vision-Language Models

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

This paper introduces and tests a framework integrating traffic regulation compliance into automated driving systems (ADS). The framework enables ADS to follow traffic laws and make informed decisions based on the driving environment. Using RGB camera inputs and a vision-language model (VLM), the system generates descriptive text to support a regulation-aware decision-making process, ensuring legal and safe driving practices. This information is combined with a machine-readable ADS regulation database to guide future driving plans within legal constraints. Key features include: 1) a regulation database supporting ADS decision-making, 2) an automated process using sensor input for regulation-aware path planning, and 3) validation in both simulated and real-world environments. Particularly, the real-world vehicle tests not only assess the framework's performance but also evaluate the potential and challenges of VLMs to solve complex driving problems by integrating detection, reasoning, and planning. This work enhances the legality, safety, and public trust in ADS, representing a significant step forward in the field.


KiteRunner: Language-Driven Cooperative Local-Global Navigation Policy with UAV Mapping in Outdoor Environments

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Autonomous navigation in open-world outdoor environments faces challenges in integrating dynamic conditions, long-distance spatial reasoning, and semantic understanding. Traditional methods struggle to balance local planning, global planning, and semantic task execution, while existing large language models (LLMs) enhance semantic comprehension but lack spatial reasoning capabilities. Although diffusion models excel in local optimization, they fall short in large-scale long-distance navigation. To address these gaps, this paper proposes KiteRunner, a language-driven cooperative local-global navigation strategy that combines UAV orthophoto-based global planning with diffusion model-driven local path generation for long-distance navigation in open-world scenarios. Our method innovatively leverages real-time UAV orthophotography to construct a global probability map, providing traversability guidance for the local planner, while integrating large models like CLIP and GPT to interpret natural language instructions. Experiments demonstrate that KiteRunner achieves 5.6% and 12.8% improvements in path efficiency over state-of-the-art methods in structured and unstructured environments, respectively, with significant reductions in human interventions and execution time.


Beyond Outlining: Heterogeneous Recursive Planning for Adaptive Long-form Writing with Language Models

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Long-form writing agents require flexible integration and interaction across information retrieval, reasoning, and composition. Current approaches rely on predetermined workflows and rigid thinking patterns to generate outlines before writing, resulting in constrained adaptability during writing. In this paper we propose a general agent framework that achieves human-like adaptive writing through recursive task decomposition and dynamic integration of three fundamental task types, i.e. retrieval, reasoning, and composition. Our methodology features: 1) a planning mechanism that interleaves recursive task decomposition and execution, eliminating artificial restrictions on writing workflow; and 2) integration of task types that facilitates heterogeneous task decomposition. Evaluations on both fiction writing and technical report generation show that our method consistently outperforms state-of-the-art approaches across all automatic evaluation metrics, which demonstrate the effectiveness and broad applicability of our proposed framework.


Multi-Robot System for Cooperative Exploration in Unknown Environments: A Survey

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

With the advancement of multi-robot technology, cooperative exploration tasks have garnered increasing attention. This paper presents a comprehensive review of multi-robot cooperative exploration systems. First, we review the evolution of robotic exploration and introduce a modular research framework tailored for multi-robot cooperative exploration. Based on this framework, we systematically categorize and summarize key system components. As a foundational module for multi-robot exploration, the localization and mapping module is primarily introduced by focusing on global and relative pose estimation, as well as multi-robot map merging techniques. The cooperative motion module is further divided into learning-based approaches and multi-stage planning, with the latter encompassing target generation, task allocation, and motion planning strategies. Given the communication constraints of real-world environments, we also analyze the communication module, emphasizing how robots exchange information within local communication ranges and under limited transmission capabilities. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future research directions for multi-robot cooperative exploration in light of real-world trends. This review aims to serve as a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the field.


Uncertainty Expression for Human-Robot Task Communication

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

An underlying assumption of many existing approaches to human-robot task communication is that the robot possesses a sufficient amount of environmental domain knowledge, including the locations of task-critical objects. This assumption is unrealistic if the locations of known objects change or have not yet been discovered by the robot. In this work, our key insight is that in many scenarios, robot end users possess more scene insight than the robot and need ways to express it. Presently, there is a lack of research on how solutions for collecting end-user scene insight should be designed. We thereby created an Uncertainty Expression System (UES) to investigate how best to elicit end-user scene insight. The UES allows end users to convey their knowledge of object uncertainty using either: (1) a precision interface that allows meticulous expression of scene insight; (2) a painting interface by which users create a heat map of possible object locations; and (3) a ranking interface by which end users express object locations via an ordered list. We then conducted a user study to compare the effectiveness of these approaches based on the accuracy of scene insight conveyed to the robot, the efficiency at which end users are able to express this scene insight, and both usability and task load. Results indicate that the rank interface is more user friendly and efficient than the precision interface, and that the paint interface is the least accurate.


LTLCodeGen: Code Generation of Syntactically Correct Temporal Logic for Robot Task Planning

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

This paper focuses on planning robot navigation tasks from natural language specifications. We develop a modular approach, where a large language model (LLM) translates the natural language instructions into a linear temporal logic (LTL) formula with propositions defined by object classes in a semantic occupancy map. The LTL formula and the semantic occupancy map are provided to a motion planning algorithm to generate a collision-free robot path that satisfies the natural language instructions. Our main contribution is LTLCodeGen, a method to translate natural language to syntactically correct LTL using code generation. We demonstrate the complete task planning method in real-world experiments involving human speech to provide navigation instructions to a mobile robot. We also thoroughly evaluate our approach in simulated and real-world experiments in comparison to end-to-end LLM task planning and state-of-the-art LLM-to-LTL translation methods.


Evaluating Path Planning Strategies for Efficient Nitrate Sampling in Crop Rows

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Abstract: This paper presents a pipeline that combines high-resolution orthomosaic maps generated from UAS imagery with GPS-based global navigation to guide a skid-steered ground robot. We evaluated three path planning strategies: A* Graph search, Deep Q-learning (DQN) model, and Heuristic search, benchmarking them on planning time and success rate in realistic simulation environments. Experimental results reveal that the Heuristic search achieves the fastest planning times (0.28 ms) and a 100% success rate, while the A* approach delivers nearoptimal performance, and the DQN model, despite its adaptability, incurs longer planning delays and occasional suboptimal routing. These results highlight the advantages of deterministic rulebased methods in geometrically constrained crop-row environments and lay the groundwork for future hybrid strategies in precision agriculture. Keywords: Path planning, autonomous control, crop rows, autonomous nitrate sampling 1. INTRODUCTION Autonomous navigation in agricultural fields is challenging due to structured layouts with unstructured variability.


Multi-layer Motion Planning with Kinodynamic and Spatio-Temporal Constraints

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

We propose a novel, multi-layered planning approach for computing paths that satisfy both kinodynamic and spatiotemporal constraints. Our three-part framework first establishes potential sequences to meet spatial constraints, using them to calculate a geometric lead path. This path then guides an asymptotically optimal sampling-based kinodynamic planner, which minimizes an STL-robustness cost to jointly satisfy spatiotemporal and kinodynamic constraints. In our experiments, we test our method with a velocity-controlled Ackerman-car model and demonstrate significant efficiency gains compared to prior art. Additionally, our method is able to generate complex path maneuvers, such as crossovers, something that previous methods had not demonstrated.


PER-DPP Sampling Framework and Its Application in Path Planning

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

Autonomous navigation in intelligent mobile systems represents a core research focus within artificial intelligence-driven robotics. Contemporary path planning approaches face constraints in dynamic environmental responsiveness and multi-objective task scalability, limiting their capacity to address growing intelligent operation requirements. Decision-centric reinforcement learning frameworks, capitalizing on their unique strengths in adaptive environmental interaction and self-optimization, have gained prominence in advanced control system research. This investigation introduces methodological improvements to address sample homogeneity challenges in reinforcement learning experience replay mechanisms. By incorporating determinant point processes (DPP) for diversity assessment, we develop a dual-criteria sampling framework with adaptive selection protocols. This approach resolves representation bias in conventional prioritized experience replay (PER) systems while preserving algorithmic interoperability, offering improved decision optimization for dynamic operational scenarios. Key contributions comprise: Develop a hybrid sampling paradigm (PER-DPP) combining priority sequencing with diversity maximization.Based on this,create an integrated optimization scheme (PER-DPP-Elastic DQN) merging diversity-aware sampling with adaptive step-size regulation. Comparative simulations in 2D navigation scenarios demonstrate that the elastic step-size component temporarily delays initial convergence speed but synergistically enhances final-stage optimization with PER-DPP integration. The synthesized method generates navigation paths with optimized length efficiency and directional stability.